Car-coupling, uncoupling device.



G. P. BRANDON. GAR CUUPLING, UNOOUPLING DEVICE,

I m di L Patented Jan. 18,1910.

APPLICATION TILED APR. 30, 1909.

UNITEDIFSTATES PATENT orrc.

GUSTAVE FRANK BRANDON, 0F MUSKEGON, MICHIGAN.

CARY-COUPLING, UNcoiIPLI G DEVICE. I

manipulating a car coupler so as to enable the same to separate or draw away froma complementary coupler.

The general object of the invention is to provide simple, reliable and advantageouslyarranged coupler-manipulating means, designed for use on the long modern passenger coaches, and in combination with a modern cou lcr havin a knuckle and a knuckle lock. and adapted to freely ac'commodate itself to the considerable lateral swing of the coupler necessary to avoid casual uncoupling when two coupled cars of the long passenger type pass through a curve.

My invention also contemplates the arrangement of the hand lever comprised in my improvements, adjacent the ground and one side of the .car, this in order'that the same trainman who operates the said lever to release the coupler knuckle can conveniently signal the engineer and bring about the prompt separation of the cars.

\Vith the foregoing in view, the invent on will be fully understood from thefollowing description and claim" when the same are read in connection with the drawings, accompanying and forming part of this specification, in which:

Figure 1 is a detail end elevation of an open-platform passenger car equipped with my novel coupler manipulating means. Fig. 2 is a corresponding view of a'vestibule passenger coach having a similar equipment. Fig. 3 is an elevation of my improvements, removed. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section, taken in the plane indicated by the line {4 of Fig. 3, looking downwardly.

Referring by letter to the said drawings: A in Fig. 1 is an open platform passengar car equipped with my improved coupler maf nipulating means, and B in Fig. 2 is a vestibule passenger car similarly equipped.

C in Figs. 1 and 2 is a coupler head. is the knuckle in said head, and E is the knuckle lock having the apertured portion F disposed at one side of the head. elements are all of the ordinary, well known Specification of Letters'Patent.

These Patented at... as, rare.

Application filed April 30, 1909. Serial No. 493,104..

construction, and the coupler head is connected with. the car in the conventional manner,i. e., 1n '.such manner that the coupler head has considerable lateral play in order to preventcasual disconnection of said head from the coupler head on an adjacent passenger car incidental to the passage'of the two long passenger cars through 'a sharp curve.

In the present and best practical/embodiment of my invention that I have as yet devised, my novel coupler manipulating means comprisesa depending bracket/G fixedly connected to the car body, a hand leverH pivoted to and pendent from the bracket, and having a vertical, longitudinallydis posed slot Iv at an intermediate point of its length, and a connecting rod J, interposed between and connected with the lock" portion F and the lever H. he said rod J is bifurcated at itsouter en as indicated by a, to straddle the lever 11, and is connected to the said lever through the medium'of a bolt 6 which extends through and is adapted to play vertically in the slot I. At its opposite or inner out the rod J is provided with I a dependlng portion 0 whlch terminates in portions 6 of which are. apertured and are preferably shaped as shown in Fig. 4. The

said apertured portions 6 are adapted to be registered with the apertured port-ion F of .a bifurcated head/(Z, the upper and lower the railway, the lever H and the rod J will freely move with the coupler head and wil in no way tend to accidentally unlock rid release the knuckle D. It will also be i'nanimore the lever H and unlock the knuckle l), and is also enabled to eonvei'ucntly signali t cngnieer of the train and in that way l rig about a prompt separation of the cars. i would also have it understood that because of the leverage atlorded by my novel means the unlocking of the, knuckle may be accomplished with the expenditure of but little etl'ort. l

.lhe practical advantages following from the arrangement of my novel means, relative to a car body and the coupler, will be appreciated when it is remembered that where the knuckle unlocking means are accessible only to persons on the platforms of cars, one traimnan must 0 feet the unlocking and another trainnian signal the engineer to apprise him of the unloeking'of the knuckle; also, that when the manipulating means is carried by-the platform of a vestibule car, a trainman on the ground cannot gain access to the platform to actuate the i manipulating means. Again it will be noted that when a train is in motion, manipulating means on a car platform is accessible to and may be surreptitiously actuated by mischievous persons, while the hand lever H of my novel means cannot be operated except when the train is at rest, and then only by a person standin upon the ground.

As will be readily gathered from the forc oing my improvements are not only simple and inexpensive in construction, but are also advantageous because of the facility with which the same may be applied to passenger cars at present in use.

'lhe specific construction herein illustrated and described constitutes the best practical emhmlinient of my invention of which I am cognizant, but it is obvious that in the future practice of the inventi n such changes or modifications may be made as do not involve departure from the spirit of my invention as defined by the claim appended.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patout, is:

In a passenger car, the combination of the car body, a coupler head carried by and movable with respect to said body and having a knuckle and a knuckle-lock on which latter is an apertured portion disposed at one side of the head, a leverconnected with and pendent from the body of the car, in position to swing freely in the direction of the width thereof, and havinga VeItlU'l, longitudinally-disposed slot, a connectii'ig rod having a portion at its outer end arranged alongside the slotted portion of the lever and also having a depending portion at its inner end and a vertical aperture in said portion re istered with the said apertured portion of the knuckle-lock, a connect ing pin extending through the outer portion of the connecting rod and the slot of the lever and movable vertically in said slot, and a vertical bolt extending through and pivotallyconnecting the inner depending portion of the connecting rod and the apertured portion of the knuckle-lock.

ln testiinony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

BENJ. H. TELLMAN, HOWARD BRANDON. 

